Friday, January 6, 2012

Well, Budde took another day off from farming and helped me move this solid chunk of steel from my father's estate in Portland. It took all day and was not easy.
It was in the house when he bought it back in the early 60's from E. Frank, of the Meyer & Frank department store. His partner Meyer lived across the street.
It has never been locked since we moved in and had the combination printed on a tag and taped to the door. I think my father was afraid that had it been locked, someone would try to break into it, fail, and result in one of three things:
(1) the safe would be ruined but un-opened & anything inside would cost money to recover
(2) If the safe were blown open, the office would be a mess if not consumed by fire.
(3) If left empty but locked,it would be ruined &would cost money to move the thing to the scrap yard.
At best, there would be a mess.

All of this would have been a moot point as the safe was in a secret compartment that needed only some repairs to the latch and hinges to be functional. While I repaired the secret door for him some years ago, the safe remained unlocked and unused.
The lock is a 5 wheel Yale and I have of course the combination although I haven't tried it yet as the safe is currently on it's side meaning the door has to lift up instead of swinging to the side. It's Heavy!

I lowered it down the ramp into my basement with a cable tied to the hitch of my 42 Willys MB. The emergency brake doesn't work. It was in four wheel drive 1st gear low. The jeep was rolliing backward turning the engine over backward. I chalked the wheels. The safe was getting heavier in my estimation by the hour.
If anybody can tell me the maker of this thing I would appreciate it. The latest patent date on the dial is Nov. 1880 so it is no older than that.
Now I need to borrow Budde's engine hoist to get it off the cart. I hope I don't break the hoist..
I will remove the combination paper from the door. I hope I don't lose it.
I think I will keep it locked with only a note inside that says:
Congratulations! All that work for nothing! Get a real job.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

"he brandished a weapon" Could mean anything.If they would just teach the police how to shoot, the kid would be alive still. Most of these guys pull their gun out only to qualify once a year. It seems that every time there is an officer involved shooting enough shots are fired to empty a 16 round clip or two and maybe one shot hits the "bad guy". Do they have to shoot to kill? Well, the side of the barn is pretty bug, and shooting an arm or leg would be the equivalent of getting a shot through the door. On the other hand, perhaps there is more to it. But I doubt it.